Plea for help to deal with town camp violence

A town camp resident says authorities are not responding to calls for help and are ineffective at clamping down on violence.

AAP: Dave Hunt

An Alice Springs town camp resident says authorities are unwilling to do anything to resolve the high levels of violence in the camps.

Eileen Hoosan lives at the Mount Nancy town camp and is a member of the camp's housing association.

She says town camp residents need a better system for getting rid of unwanted visitors.

She says Territory Housing is still working on the problem and, in the meantime, violence is escalating.

"My children never grew up with violence," she said.

"My grandchildren today are witnessing a level of violence that they shouldn't see."

Ms Hoosan says authorities are not responding to calls for help and are ineffective at managing town camp problems.

She says if the night patrol service was expanded then residents could manage the level of violence.

"I was disappointed last week because I rang triple-0 and the lady police woman said to me, you are not to ring triple-0, triple-0 is only for emergencies and I said, well, I consider this an emergency," she said.

Ms Hoosan says she was trying to report a violent incident, with "children involved and lots of people screaming".